LIZARD

On this third King Crimson album Lizard from 1970 (same year as its precursor In The Wake Of Poseidon) mastermind and selfclaimed leader of the pack Robert Fripp is the only original musician from the first line-up. Because Pete Sinfield was only the song writer on ITCOTCK, now he was allowed to do some experiments on the odd VCS3 synthesizer (known from Eno his work during Virginia Plain from Roxy Music). In comparison with 1969 this is almost a new band, this King Crimson delivers mainly jazz and avant-garde, only a few traces of the sound from their legendary debut album In The Court Of The Crimson King. Members piano player Keith Tippett and Mel Collins and a wide range of guest musicians on brass and wood instruments colour the music, with saxophone, hobo, trombone and cornet.

This 40th anniversary version CD opens with the strong track Cirkus: lots of dynamics and tension featuring fine work from Fripp on the acoustic guitar, an awesome solo from Mel Collins on saxophone and wonderful Mellotron parts. The next composition Indoor Games is a different story: brass like 'Madness avant-la-lettre' and very jazzy guitar play. Then the King Crimson quirky factor turns into even more dominant in Happy Family, again lots of brass and jazz guitar. Next the mellow Lady Of The Dancing featuring beautiful interplay between flute, electric piano and vocals. Finally the very epic titletrack (23 minutes), with Jon Anderson and his distinctive high pitched voice as guest singer. The music shifts from 24-carat symphonic rock with majestic Mellotron and howling guitar to free jazz with lots of brass, like the cornet, and piano, what a contrasts in this composition, King Crimson is on a captivating musical journey, but not really my taste.

The bonustracks are an 'alternate mix' of Lady Of The Dancing Water, a Frame By Frame remix of Bolero and a studio run through of Cirkus (wonderful final part with Mellotron and saxophone).

The DVD contains only audio material, from the original album in DTS 5.1 Digital Surround and PCM Stereo (2009 New Stereo Mix), and the bonustracks from the CD.